Shoe tap



June 14, 1932.

J. SLEPIAN SHOE TAP Filed Nov. 5, 1950 2 Sheets-Sheet l v1:5 I fljj INVENTOR -/Z 5/z 5/7922;

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ATTORNEY June 14, Y SLEHAN 1,863,356

SHOE TAP Filed Nov. 5, 1950 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR ATTORNEY Patented June 14, 1932 UNITED STATES PATENT @FFEQE JOSEPH SLEPIAN', OF PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR TO B. SLEPIAN COM- PANY, A CORPORATION OF MASSACHUSETTS SHOE TAP Application filed November 5, 1930. Serial No. 493,496.

My invention relates to the art of making out soles for shoes, and it has particular relation to economical unfinished taps from which the finished soles or half-soles are to be cut by the shoe manufacturer or the cobbler.

Heretofore, unfinished, so-calle'd angle taps have been furnished, which were of such shape that the outlines of the largest finished taps that could be cut therefrom would not touch when the unfinished taps were touching each other, and also so that the corner pieces that were cut out to make the rounded boundaries of the finished taps were in little pieces, a part of each corner being attached to each unfinished tap.

According to my present invention, these corner pieces are each given to one cobbler, as a whole piece, without being cut in two by the dividing lines of the unfinished taps. The cobbler thus gets corner pieces of twice the size of the pieces obtained with previous unfinished taps, and these corner pieces are valuable to him, particularly in the heavy leather of mens half-soles, said pieces being used as toplift stock for building up and repairing heels, and for other purposes.

The general principles of my invention are susceptible of a wide range of applications, some of which are shown, by way of example, in the accompanying drawings, wherein Figure 1 is a'plan view of a strip of leather, with two forms of unfinished taps for ladies half-soles, in accordance with my invention;

Fig. 2 is a similar view showing an improved unfinished tap for mens half-soles, in accordance with my invention;

Fig. 8 is a similar view showing how unfinished taps each furnishing two finished half-soles may be cut from a strip of leather in accordance with my invention; and

Fig. 4 is a similar view showing improved factory soles from which shoe-manufacturers may cut whole soles, in accordance with my invention.

In Fig. 1, I have shown a strip 5 of leather, having two parallel sides, and having curved transverse cuts, as indicated by heavy lines 7. for forming a plurality of unfinished taps. These taps are preferably marked with the outlines of the largest finished half-soles which can be cut therefrom, as indicated by light lines 9. It will be noted that the unfinished taps are nestable so as to fill the area of the strip 5, except for the irregular pieces at the ends, and that the outlines of the largest finished taps that may be out therefrom touch each other, so that no leather is wasted. It will be further noted that the transverse curved knife-cuts 7 are made up v toe of the finished half-sole of one tap, and 4 i the other portion 13 conforms to the toe of the finished half-sole of the other tap.

Fig. 2 shows a narrower strip 15 having a plurality of nested unfinished taps of my invention, for mens half-soles, the curved dividing lines between successive taps being indicated by heavy lines 16, and the outlines of the finished half-soles being indicated by light lines 17. It will be noted that only two large corner waste pieces 18 need be cut from each unfinished tap, each waste piece having two curved sides and one straight side commensurate with said curved sides, so that these pieces are of such size and shape that the cobbler may make the most advantageous use thereof; as contrasted with the four small pieces which had to be cut from the straight-sided angle taps of prior constructions, as indicated by dotted lines 19 in Fig. 2 of my drawings.

Fig. 3 shows a set of nested unfinished taps each providing a pair of finished half-sole taps with touching shank ends. As before, the lateral edges 21 of the unfinished taps are curved, conforming to the shape of the finished taps, so that corner pieces 22 of the smallest number and maximum size are provided.

Fig. 4 shows my invention applied to the cutting of factory soles for shoe-manufacturers. The finished soles, indicated in light lines 24, are nested and alternately reversed, so that the heel of one sole touches the front portions of the next adjacent soles, and the dividing lines 25 between successive unfinished soles conform to the shapes of the respective touching finished soles.

It will be apparent that the general principles of my invention are susceptible of execution in a number of different designs. In general, a curved knife or'knives (not shown) will be utilized in making the transverse cuts shown by the various heavy lines shown in the drawings, whereby my unfinished taps may be readily out from strips by available machinery, involving only the substitution of knives having the curved configurations illustrated.

In my unfinished taps for half soles, one of the two straight sides is at the proper angle to conform to the straight rear edge of the finished half-sole that is to be cut therefrom, thus facilitating the beveling by the cobbler. It is noted, moreover, that the corner waste pieces, as 11 or 18 in Figs. 1 and 2, are provided at the toe of the tap, rather than at the straight rear edge or shank, the shank of the unfinished tap being just the width of the finished half sole, because the shoe-repairer ordinarily first bevels the shank end, then tacks the blank onto the shoe, then cuts the blank in conformity to the particular shoe on which he is working. Since my invention thus provides the waste pieces at the toe end, with a minimum waste at the shank end, it will be obvious that when the shoe-repairer bevels the shank end, he will not spoil the corner waste pieces by his beveling, which would be the case if they were at the rear end as always heretofore. It is obvious, of course, that such beveling might be produced by the manufacturer of the unfinished tap, and I do not intend, by the language of the appended claims, to exclude such a possibility.

In the foregoing specification, and in the appended claims, when I speak of a curved side of an unfinished tap substantially conforming to the contour of a finished tap, I mean to include any close approximation, such as would be provided by a plurality of short straight cuts.

The foregoing illustrated examples of the application of my inventionare not to be taken as exhaustive of all the possibilities but simply as suggestive of some of the best means and methods of applying the principle of undivided waste, whereby the waste pieces which are cut off by the cobbler or the shoe manufacturer in order to form the finished half soles or whole soles are not divided by the boundary lines between adjacent taps, (as indicated at 19 in Fig. 2) as heretofore.

In the foregoing specification, and in the appended claims, I have used the expression, unfinished tap or blank in the general .formity to two curved lateral side-ends of the largest size of tap cuttable from said blank, one of the two remaining curved ends of said two sides of the blank having the same curvature as one of the two first-mentioned inwardly curving curved ends but curving outwardly in reverse direction, the other remaining curved end having the same curvature as the other of the first-mentioned inwardly curving curved ends but curving outwardly in reversed direction. v

2. A tap blank characterized by having two curved lateral sides, each side having two curved ends, the two curved ends of one of'said curved sides curving in conformity to two curvedlateral side-ends of the largest size of tap cuttable from said blank, the other curved side having a curvature identical to that of the first-mentioned curved side and being composed of successive elements which are parallel to thesuccessive elements of the first-mentioned curved sides.

3. A tap blank characterized by having two curved lateral sides, each side having two curved ends, one of the two curved ends of each curved side conforming to the lateral shape of the largest size of finished tap that can be cut from said blank, and the remaining curved end of each curved side having the same curvature as the first-mentioned end of that curved side, but in reverse direction to the first curved end.

4. A blank for a single finished half-sole tap, characterized by having two parallel straight ends and two curved sides, each of said curved sides being curved at both its ends, two of the four curved ends of said two sides curving inwardly in conformity to two curved lateral side-ends of the largest size of tap cuttable from said blank, one of the two remaining curved ends of said two sides of the blank having the same curvature as one of the two first-mentioned inwardly curving curved ends but curving outwardly in reverse direction, the other remaining curved end having the same curvature as the other of the first-mentioned inwardly curving curved ends but curving outwardly in re verse direction.

5. A blank for a single finished half-sole tap, characterized by having twoparallel straight ends and two curved sides, each of said curved sides being curved at both its ends, one of the two curved ends of each curved side conforming to the lateral shape of the largest finished tap that can be cut from the said blank, and the remaining curved end of each curved side having the same curvature as the first-mentioned end of that curved side, but in reverse direction to the first curved end.

6. A tap blank characterized by having two curved lateral edges, one curved lateral edge curving inwardly in conformity to a curved lateral edge of the largest tap that can be cut from said blank, the other curved lateral edge having a portion having a similar curvature but curving outwardly in reverse direction.

7 A blank from which a pair of tap-soles may be out, said blank having straight parallel ends and curved lateral edges, approximately one-half of each curved lateral edge curving inwardly in conformity to a curved lateral edge of each tap-sole, the other half having the same curvature but curving outwardly in reverse direction.

8. A tap blank having two parallel end lines and two curved lateral lines, the terminal portions of which have curvatures conforming to the configuration of the largest finished tap that may be cut therefrom, said blank having twoundivided corner waste pieces having two curved sides and one straight side commensurate with said curved sides.

9. A tap blank having curved sides, said curved sides being made up altogether of curved portions having curvatures conforming to portions of the curved contour of the largest size of tap cuttable from said blank, said curved portions being both inwardly curving and outwardly curving in their directions.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto subscribed my name this 30th day of October,

JOSEPH SLEPIAN. 

